Migrants' social protection as a transnational process: public policies and emigrant initiative in the case of Ecuador

The article explores social protection as a transnational welfare process for migrants from Ecuador in Italy. It focuses specifically on the social protection for the family members left behind which is provided by migrants' remittances as well as by their transnational caregiving practices. It examines the discourse of, and policies relating to, migration in Ecuador, and analyses migrants' personal practices in social protection terms, drawing on an ethnographic study of Ecuadorians in Italy. In so doing, it reviews the interactions between formal top-down and informal bottom-up initiatives to ensure social protection for migrant households and, to some degree, their local communities. As a 'transnational welfare' measure, Ecuadorian migrants' rights and opportunities have gained unprecedented salience in their home country because of governmental attempts to cultivate citizen loyalty and national identification at a distance. Still, working overseas remains the key means of social protection for migrant families despite the social and emotional costs for those who migrate and those left behind.